First UAE Female Pilot Leads Airstrikes Against ISIS Targets

A woman throwing bombs on ISIS. The United Arab Emirates (UAE) first female pilot was the one leading the airstrikes against the terrorist group, following the announcement by President Obama that a coalition was coming after the brutal jihadists.

On Wednesday, Fox News reported that the team leader in the U.S.-led airstrikes against Islamic State of Iraq and Greater Syria (ISIS or ISIL) targets, is none other than a female pilot. ISIS is known to be especially brutal with women, raping and selling thousands to its fighters as “wives.”

Major Mariam Al Mansouri, 35 — who entered the military as soon as women were allowed — is the first female pilot in the UAE’s air force, and reportedly was the leading pilot in the airstrikes with allied forces from the U.S., Saudi Arabia, Jordan, Qatar, and Bahrain.

“It’s an unbelievable feeling, like a dream,” said Lt. Mariam al Mansouri in a 2008 interview published in UAE Interact. “You don’t believe it’s happening. It’s great to know that your country has that confidence in you.”

The UAE’s first female pilot to be used in combat against the ISIS forces, along with three other women, graduated in January of 2008. For the pilot, being in the military is a dream that came to fruition despite entering a world almost entirely dominated by men.

“It was my aspiration,” she said. “Ever since I finished high school, I wanted to learn flying because it was something that I liked in the first place.”

It is not common to have females in positions of leadership in the Arab world, but things seem to be changing in the more progressive countries on that part of the world.

“Being in the air force is a responsibility. I feel proud, especially that I am part of the first batch. And that encourages me to continue in this field.”

“As a pilot, you have to study all the time, even after graduation. You have to continue training because the more hours you fly the more experience you accumulate.”

It must be a great feeling for Lt. Al Mansouri to help fight the ISIS terrorists, who are accused of raping thousands of women and girls in an effort to populate the Caliphate.